Outbreak – Rediscovering ‘80,000 Suspects’ (UK 1963 – 113 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ March 18, 2018
No Comments
Outbreak – Rediscovering ‘80,000 Suspects’ (UK 1963 – 113 mins)

A minor British drama that’s part medical procedure and part disaster movie; Val Guest’s ‘80,000 Suspects’ is a decent entry in hospital dramas that benefits from a terrific cast and intelligent script.

One New Year’s Eve in the Southwest of England, Dr Stephen Monks (Richard Johnson) discovers a smallpox infection which causes the city of Bath to be put under quarantine. At the same time, Monks marriage to ex-nurse Julie (Claire Bloom) is falling apart following an affair, but becomes even more tested when Julie contracts the virus. Further strain is put on the couple when the disease is traced back …

Read More

The Man Who Fell To Earth – Rediscovering ‘Prey’ (UK 1977 – 85 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ February 24, 2018
No Comments
The Man Who Fell To Earth – Rediscovering ‘Prey’ (UK 1977 – 85 mins)

A pretty good slice of British horror, Norman J Warren’s low-budget Sci-fi ‘Prey’ is a fun exploitation piece, and a neat twist on the oft-used theme of the welcoming couple letting a stranger into their home… with deadly results.

Upon landing on Earth, a sharp-fanged alien (Barry Stokes) kills and takes over the identity of a local man before intruding on a young lesbian couple (Sally Faulkner & Glory Annen) living deep in the English countryside. Although distant and aloof it’s not long before one of the women takes a shine to their mysterious visitor, causing friction in the couples already …

Read More

Crime Stories – Remembering Darlanne Fluegel (1953 – 2017)

Remember ‐ ‐ January 12, 2018
No Comments
Crime Stories – Remembering Darlanne Fluegel (1953 – 2017)

For a while it seemed that cult beauty Darlanne Fluegel’s star would surely rise, and even though she went on to have an interesting film and television career, she would never quite reach the heady heights that some critics were hoping for. Still, in her many male-dominated movies, she more than managed to hold her own, battling both sadistic cops and villains in a handful of 1980’s action films.

Born in Pasadena, California, on November 25th 1953, Darlanne Fluegel carved out a successful career as a fashion model before retiring at 25 to pursue a serious acting career. Making her debut …

Read More

Don’t Go In The Attic – Rediscovering ‘Silent Scream’ (US 1979 – 87 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ January 07, 2018
No Comments
Don’t Go In The Attic – Rediscovering ‘Silent Scream’ (US 1979 – 87 mins)

Unfairly lumped in with the early slasher films, Denny Harris’ late 70’s horror ‘Silent Scream’ is actually a pretty good thriller that doesn’t dwell on gory murders, but more on the psychological aspect of the story. Slasher fans will feel cheated, but I’ve always enjoyed the look of the movie and especially the tense atmosphere that permeates throughout the film.

After moving into the beachfront boarding house run by the mysterious Mrs Engels (Yvonne De Carlo), pretty student Scotty Parker (Rebecca Balding) soon finds herself caught up in a series of brutal murders. When the police uncover some long hidden …

Read More

Snowbound – Rediscovering ‘You’ll Like My Mother’ (US 1972 – 92 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ December 04, 2017
No Comments
Snowbound – Rediscovering ‘You’ll Like My Mother’ (US 1972 – 92 mins)

It must feel immensely unnerving to be an isolated outsider in an isolated environment. That’s how heavily pregnant Patty Duke’s character must have felt, after arriving on the doorstep of her dead husband’s unwelcoming family, in the forgotten 1972 thriller ‘You’ll Like My Mother’.

After her husband is killed in Vietnam, heavily pregnant Francesca Kinsolving decides to pay a surprise visit to his family in a remote part of Minnesota. When her mother-in-law (Rosemary Murphy) tells Francesca she wants nothing to do with her or her unborn baby, Francesca makes for a quick exit, only to be held up by a …

Read More

A Man Possessed – Rediscovering ‘Beast with a Gun’ / ‘La Belva Col Mitra’ – (Italy 1977 – 91 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ November 25, 2017
No Comments
A Man Possessed – Rediscovering ‘Beast with a Gun’ / ‘La Belva Col Mitra’ – (Italy 1977 – 91 mins)

Giving one of the meanest performances in exploitation cinema, euro favourite Helmut Berger let loose in the savage crime picture ‘Beast With a Gun’. An entertaining ‘prisoner-on-the-run’ flick, it manages to cover just about every trick in the exploitation handbook, making it a favourite for many cult movie buffs.

The plot could not be simpler: After blasting his way out of prison, sadistic killer Nanni “Mad Dog” Vitali (Helmut Berger) embarks on a spree that takes in murder, rape and robbery, while dogged police inspector Giulio Santini (Richard Harrison) will stop at nothing to recapture the fiend.

Also known as ‘Mad …

Read More

“Take the Stairs” – Rediscovering ‘The Lift’ (Netherlands 1983 – 99 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ November 07, 2017
No Comments
“Take the Stairs” – Rediscovering ‘The Lift’ (Netherlands 1983 – 99 mins)

A pleasant surprise, the multi-genre Dutch movie ‘The Lift’ starts off like some mild adult comedy but soon takes a creepy turn, from where things then get more mysterious and sometimes even horrific. But all the while it keeps you entertained and intrigued as to how this neat “Man versus Machine” movie will end.

Following the freak deaths in an office building elevator of a blind man and a nightwatchman, repairman Felix (Huub Stapel) and sexy journalist Mieke (Willeke van Ammelrooy) take it upon themselves to investigate the mysterious lift, which appears to have a deadly life of its own.

While there …

Read More

Perfectly Pompous – Cecil Parker (1897–1971)

Rewind ‐ ‐ November 05, 2017
No Comments
Perfectly Pompous – Cecil Parker (1897–1971)

Notable for playing dedicated manservants and overbearing authority figures, Cecil Parker was also adept at making these characters rather likable, in spite of their stuffiness. A familiar face in British cinema for four decades, he left an indelible impression in a great number of memorable dramas as well as some of cinema’s finest comedies.

Born Cecil Schwabe, in Hastings, England on September 3rd 1897, Parker first trod the London stage in 1922 and made his movie debut a decade later in 1933. After appearing in a handful of farces, his first notable role came in Hitchcock’s excellent mystery ‘The Lady Vanishes’ …

Read More

Licence to Thrill – Rediscovering ‘My Chauffeur’ (US 1986 – 97 mins)

Rediscover ‐ ‐ October 31, 2017
No Comments
Licence to Thrill – Rediscovering ‘My Chauffeur’ (US 1986 – 97 mins)

A patchy, though likable romantic comedy, ‘My Chauffeur’ has aquired quite a cult following. This, I think, is due mainly to the enthusiastic performance from its wonderfully energetic lead; Deborah Foreman, whose star should have burned longer than it did.

When happy-go-lucky dishwasher Casey Meadows (Deborah Forman) receives a job offer as a chauffeur for a luxury Limousine Service, the all male staff are suitably shocked. It doesn’t take long however before her cheerful presence wins over the other drivers, much to the annoyance of the company manager, Charles McBride (Howard Hesserman), whose assignments to Casey are given in the hope …

Read More

Spains Sensitive Starlet – Remembering Emma Cohen (1946 – 2016)

Remember ‐ ‐ October 01, 2017
No Comments
Spains Sensitive Starlet – Remembering Emma Cohen (1946 – 2016)

A lovely, talented and daring Spanish actress, Emma Cohen was a popular Euro-starlet in the Seventies, working with such notable directors as Eloy de la Iglesia, León Klimovsky and Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent. Flitting between comedy, drama and thriller, it would be a handful of cult horror pictures however, that she would be mostly remembered for.

Born Emmanuela Beltrán Rahola in Barcelona on November 21st 1946, Emma made her debut in Jorge Grau’s 1968 musical ‘Tuset Street’, before playing a vampire in Jess Franco’s strangely popular ‘Count Dracula’ in 1970. After a small role as a farmer’s daughter in the …

Read More
Next Page »